Saturday, May 27, 2006

Tribute - Herman W. Jahnigen


A Web Tribute to Mr. Herman W. Jahnigen.
Herman was a close friend and will always be remembered deep in my heart. Mr. Jahnigen was the most decorated soldier from Ripley County Indiana. He is among the few to receive a battlefield commision. Herman, I feel did not receive the glory he deserved, So in my small way I have created a well deserved tribute. Please click the below link to view it. There is also a clickable link from the Stratton - Karsteter Funeral Home link page and RipleyCounty.net page. People using dial-up should prepare to wait for the tribute to load as it is several meg. in size.
http://ripleycounty.net/herman/herman.html

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

R U Going Blind ?

Many people have a problem reading small text, so
this is very useful when trying to read small e-mail or
webpage print.

If you hold down the Ctrl key on your key board and
turn the small wheel in the middle of your mouse, the print size
will change - it will either get larger or smaller - depending on which
way you turn the wheel.
Try it - you'll be amazed at the difference!
Sent in by "Steve"

Note: No wheel on lap tops:
In OE, Thunderbird, & Firefox: ctrl + or ctrl -
In IE, click "View" "Text" "Larger or Smaller".

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Computer promotional photography 1960s


Here are nine examples of computer promotional photography sent to newspapers in the 60s and 70s.
http://www.lileks.com/institute/compupromo/index.html
After you view the old computers, click "Home" for other neat stuff.

Windows Vista is coming

Everything you ever wanted to know about Bill's Vista OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx

Friday, May 19, 2006

just going too far


I think the music industry is just going too far with this kind of action. I pay to listen now, but they want me to pay again to listen later to the songs I didn't hear earlier. I'm sure you will be deemed a crook soon by pressing record on your VCR.
Here is a letter sent by XM radio to their subscibers:

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Statement to XM Subscribers - The XM Nation

Everything we've done at XM since our first minute on the air is about giving you more choices. We provide more channels and music programming than any other network. We play all the music you want to hear including the artists you want to hear but can't find on traditional FM radio. And we offer the best radios with the features you want for your cars, homes, and all places in between.

We've developed new radios -- the Inno, Helix and NeXus -- that take innovation to the next level in a totally legal way. Like TiVo, these devices give you the ability to enjoy the sports, talk and music programming whenever you want. And because they are portable, you can enjoy XM wherever you want.

The music industry wants to stop your ability to choose when and where you can listen. Their lawyers have filed a meritless lawsuit to try and stop you from enjoying these radios.

They don't get it. These devices are clearly legal. Consumers have enjoyed the right to tape off the air for their personal use for decades, from reel-to-reel and the cassette to the VCR and TiVo.

Our new radios complement download services, they don't replace them. If you want a copy of a song to transfer to other players or burn onto CDs, we make it easy for you to buy them through XM + Napster.

Satellite radio subscribers like you are law-abiding music consumers; a portion of your subscriber fee pays royalties directly to artists. Instead of going after pirates who don't pay a cent, the record labels are attacking the radios used for the enjoyment of music by consumers like you. It's misguided and wrong.

We will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win.

Thank you for your support.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Reverse lookup phone numbers

Q.
Some of the time my caller ID shows "Unknown Name" but shows the number from the caller, is there a site where you can look up who owns the the number that is displyed?

A.
Here is a list of sites that offer some "reverse lookup" services:

http://www.dvorak.org/phonelinks.htm

Mothers are special

http://www.entourages.com/barbs/Mother.htm

MS Word hidden characters

Have you ever wondered how to add a character such as a “©” or “™” to your Word document? Your first thought may be to look on the keyboard but you will not find any keys on the keyboard containing any of these characters.

These types of characters in Word are referred to as "Symbols." You can insert a Symbol into your Word document using the steps that are outlined below:

1. Open your Word document.
2. Place the cursor where you want to insert the Symbol.
3. From the Insert menu, click Symbol.
4. Select the Symbols tab.
5. Click the appropriate Symbol from the list.
6. Click Insert.
7. Click Close. The Symbol will now appear in your document.


From the lockergnome newsletter at:
http://tinyurl.com/rkq7a

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Windows auto-update process

I've been advising Windows consumers to disable Automatic Updates: Keep Microsoft's mitts off your machine until you're darn sure the proffered patches do more good than harm.

Take a second right now to check your auto update settings. Click Start, Control Panel, Security Center. Don't click the Automatic Updates bar at the top — Microsoft has the dialog box rigged to turn on auto-updating if you click around indiscriminately. Instead, click the "Automatic Updates" line at the bottom of the Security Center. Windows shows you an official-looking dialog box — "Help Protect Your PC," it says — with a cheerful good green shield at the top and a naughty bad red shield at the bottom.

With auto updates disabled, the next time Microsoft has a "critical" patch that it wants to push onto your machine, a balloon will pop up out of a yellow shield in the system tray, next to the clock at the bottom of the screen. The balloon will ask your permission to download and/or install whatever software Microsoft has on offer. Your job is to refrain from giving that permission until millions of clueless Windows users have an, uh, opportunity to beta test Microsoft's latest missives.

From where I stand, Microsoft has shown that it'll use Automatic Updates to shove any software change onto any system that it darn well pleases, any time it likes. This isn't a conspiracy theory. Microsoft isn't a monolith. There's no Big Brother or master plan behind it all, no Mini-Me lurking in the shadows. Instead, what we're seeing is a bunch of stupid decisions, propagated to a hundred million PCs, by people who have demonstrated, repeatedly, that they can't be trusted with the task.

By Woody Leonhard
http://windowssecrets.com/

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Broadband camera page

I have added a link from my Versailles Web Cam page to a broadband camera page. If you have broadband, like cable, DSL, or satellite have a look at this new page. The real-time camera is pointed at the intersection of Benham Rd. and State Rd. 129 Versailles, In. This is a South view of earth and sky.
Click here for a direct link to the broadband camera page. There is also a camera that updates every 4 seconds.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

How do I avoid getting infected with spyware and adware?

In my 18 years in the computer service business, nothing has come close to the persistence and pervasiveness of spyware and adware. The impact to virtually anyone running a Windows operating system can be very significant.

The overwhelming majority of folks that come to our service centers complaining about performance issues have serious infections of adware and spyware and are usually accompanied by several hundred viruses or worms.

The problem is so great that thousands of companies have created software programs that fight the scourge, which has also lulled too many users into a false sense of security.

The difference between folks that have persistent problems and those that don’t always comes down to the same thing: behavior.

adware spyware malware prevention security Data Doctors Ken Colburn

Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING you install in your computer will ever protect you from your biggest risk: The User!

Something as simple as clicking on a link in an e-mail or downloading a file from a website, e-mail or an Instant Message can swiftly bypass all of the security and protection software that you have setup in your computer.

If you have teenagers in your household, they can usually be linked to lots of the problems. Your teen's lack of fear of computers can also lead to systems that become overburdened with layer after layer of unnecessary and hidden programs. (How many toolbars do you see when you open the web browser?)

We see a similar scenario on a regular basis in multi-computer households with teens.
The teen's computer is constantly in a state of flux because of the carefree approach to anything they come across online and it eventually makes it onto one of our service benches. While the teen's machine is being serviced (which can take several days because it is so infected with malicious programs), they jump on mom and dad's computer and within a week, a brand new high-powered computer that had never experienced performance issues is suddenly running like its 8 years old.

The only change was the behavior of the user. All of the security programs were in place, but the change in how the computer was used dramatically changed how the computer performed.

If you have anyone in your household that is in love with screen savers (and downloads them constantly), engages in file swapping (Kazaa, WinMX, eDonkey, etc.), surfs lots of gambling and adult content sites, exchanges files with hundreds of folks they don't know (Instant Messaging, MySpace, etc.) or is not particularly vigilant about what they open in their e-mail, there isn't much hope for a trouble free computing experience.

When it comes to surfing the Internet, it's virtually impossible to tell when a website is engaging in shady adware/spyware practices just by looking at it, because the malicious code is hidden in the depths of the site.

SiteAdvisor.com is offering a free program that gives you feedback when you visit a site, based on some basic criteria for identifying known offenses.

It's not a cure all, and I caution anyone that wants to use it as the definitive decision maker, but it can alert you to known rogue sites as you visit them.

If you want to see how difficult it can be to determine the difference between a legitimate site and an adware/spyware site, take the spyware quiz on the SiteAdvisor.com site at the bottom of the page.

spyware quiz

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Copied from:
lockergnome.com news letter

Friday, May 05, 2006

Clean Out Outlook Express

I looked at my Wife's computer yesterday and found that she had hundreds of deleted messages in OE (Outlook Express). I use another mail program but I know most of you use OE. All these deleted emails are just taking up room and need to be removed. My wife tells me there are a few she would like to keep, So I made a new folder to keep them in called "Keep Me". She now will just drag & drop the email she wants to keep into this new folder.

First we must make the "Keep Me" folder. To do this make sure the folders are displayed.

At the top left of OE click "View"
Then "Layout"
Check mark "Folder List" - you may want "contacts" also, thats up to you.
Click "Apply" then "OK"
Right Click "Local Folders"
Left Click "New Folder"
Type "Keep Me"
Left Click "OK"
Now look at the folders list and you should see "Keep Me" in the list.

When you receive an email that you want to keep, do the drag and drop thing into Keep Me.
What, You don't know how to Drag & Drop ?

1. Select the envalope at the left of the message you want to move,
2. Left-click the envalope and continue holding down the mouse button.
3. Move the mouse cursor to the destination where you want to place the email, in this case "Keep Me"
4. Release the mouse button on top of "Keep Me".

Now that wasn't so bad was it ? Go back and look through all the emails you would like to store in the Keep Me folder. After you have dropped them all in Keep Me folder you can delete the rest saving hard drive space. About once a week delete the emails in the "Deleted Items" filder.

Messenger and Messenger Service

Windows Messenger and Messenger Service in XP

There seems to be some confusion about these two programs. Although the names are similar they are very different. I can't think of anyone that needs Messenger Service, that is unless you work at a location that has several computers that are tied to a in-house system. Messenger Service is a way for hackers to gain access to your computer and ad pop-up windows. Most if not all reading this will want to disable this pest.

To prevent anyone on the Internet from generating pop-up messages on your computer, you can disable the Messenger service. You can restart the service easily at a later time if you decide to use it.

Disabling the Messenger Service
Windows XP Professional

1. Click Start-> Settings -> Control Panel
2. Click Administrative Tools
3. Click Services
4. Double-click Services
5. Scroll down and highlight Messenger
6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
7. Click the STOP button
8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
9. Click OK

Windows XP Home

1. Click Start-> Settings -> Control Panel
2. Click Performance and Maintenance
3. Click Administrative Tools
4. Double-click Services
5. Scroll down and highlight Messenger
6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
7. Click the STOP button
8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
9. Click OK

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Net Zero is a Zero

Net Zero, You've seen it advertised on TV and on the Internet also. It is very low priced, this is the big selling point with this ISP. (internet service provider) I have had the poor luck of working on two computers that use this ISP. I just have one thing to say, "it stinks". It falls into the same rating as Wal-Mart and AOL, maybe worse if that's possible. If you can get Verizon DSL this is the way to go. If you want poor customer service and the run a round when you have a problem, but very high speed, get cable internet. If you are out of range of these two services, pick a dial-up ISP where you do not have to use their software. A good one is Cross Paths. Earthlink is good but with a very high price tag. Check with your neighbor or the computer guru to see what ISP they use. Do not sign up for one year, pay by the month. There are hundreds of ISPs to choose from, Look here. One other note, Do not pay for the accelerator some ISPs offer, it's a joke, but it sounds good. Just stay away from Net Zero, its a looser for sure.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Remove Windows Messenger in XP

Windows XP has a program called Windows Messenger built into it. By default, this pesky program runs everytime Windows loads. With Windows Messenger Remover you will be able to:

Enable Windows Messenger
Disable Windows Messenger
Disable Windows Messenger from start up
Hide Windows Messenger from Outlook Express
Remove Windows Messenger

If you use Microsoft Windows XP, you owe it to yourself to get this! Download it for free now!
Download
or here:
http://tinyurl.com/lp2fb

If you are an advanced user here is another way:
Disable Messenger
Here's how you disable Messenger.

Right-click My Computer and click Manage.
Click Services and Applications.
Click Services.
Scroll down to Messenger and right-click.
Stop the Service.
Choose Disable as the Startup Type.
Click OK.
Reboot > that's it !
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Have you seen the Ralph-Cam?
http://townofversailles.com/mywebcam.htm